Friday, 19 September 2014

This is the start of a long constitutional wrangle for the UK

...What
is more, all the major political parties in Westminster have promised a
new, dramatic but vague round of devolution to Scotland. Fleshing this
out, getting it through parliament and then balancing it with new powers
of self-rule for England could be the work of years, not months. There
is no clean answer to the governance of the UK, no rationalist blueprint
that pleases every component of a multinational kingdom in which one
nation, England, is so dominant. Imagine if Bavaria accounted for 85 per
cent of Germany’s population.

Still, the first few steps in this long and tortuous path are now
possible to discern. In a statement outside 10 Downing Street on Friday
morning, David Cameron, the visibly relieved Conservative prime
minister, said that he would seek English votes for English laws. This
can denote several things but his version appears to be a system in
which only MPs with constituencies in England can vote on legislation
that affects only England. For the most part, this means public services
such as healthcare, education and aspects of welfare. Because the
Tories are the biggest party in England – by seats since 2010, and by
votes since 2005 – the implications of this reform are profound. It is
quite possible that Ed Miliband could win next year’s general election
for Labour but have no parliamentary majority on some of the most
important matters of government."